Andy Murray’s swansong continues at the Paris Olympics after a nail-biting 6-3, 6-7 (8-10), 11-9 victory over Belgian duo Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen to reach the quarter-finals alongside Dan Evans.
The match came down to a tie-break, the Brits eventually fighting back and claiming an 11-9 victory on their third match point.
The win puts Murray’s retirement on hold as he tries to go out on a high at the Olympics.
Murray and Evans looked fiery and very much in the zone as the match got under way, racing to a commanding lead 4-1 lead before the Belgians fought back.
On the second set point on Evans’ serve, they managed to cruise the first set 6-3, Murray’s fist bump clear for all to see.
The second set was more competitive than the first, with the games going with the serve and the Belgian pair speeding up.
With the set at 6-6, the match entered a tie-break and with things all square at 5-5, two match points came and went for the Brits before things locked in once again at 8-8.
However, a double fault from Evans then saw their opponents clinch the second set 10-8.
With that heightening the tension, the match tie-break took things to fever pitch, mistakes and brilliance in equal measure bringing the score to 8-6 in favour of the Belgians before the Brits fought back once again to equal things at 9-9.
From there, they rallied once again and jubilant celebrations ensued as they clinched the win at 11-9.
“If I was standing here having lost that, I think Dan and I would have been very disappointed as we played much better than the first match,” Murray said.
“I served way better and we deserved to win. Great to save a couple of match points but it shouldn’t have got to that stage.
“It’s unbelievably emotional. You’re unbelievably happy and then for whatever reason, I don’t know why but happy tears.
“I don’t know why that’s the case but I was really emotional at the end of the match. Happy, exciting that we managed to get through another amazing finish. It takes a lot out of you so I’m grateful for a day off tomorrow.”
Nadal and Alcaraz continue on under the spotlight
Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz improved to 2-0 as a team at the Paris Olympics and moving into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-7 (2), 10-2 match tiebreaker victory over Tallon Griekspoor and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands on Tuesday night.
Playing a day after Nadal’s singles loss to rival Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz’s win against Griekspoor, the old-and-young Spanish duo, wearing polo shirts in slightly different shades of red, didn’t look like a pairing that never had played together until this event.
As has been the case throughout tennis at this Summer Games, the attention was fully on the 38-year-old Nadal, owner of 22 Grand Slam titles and two gold medals, and the 21-year-old Alcaraz, whose major trophy total already is at four, including from the French Open last month and Wimbledon this month.
Nadal and Alcaraz will face the fourth-seeded American team of Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram for a place in the semi-finals.
Draper beaten to end British singles hopes
Jack Draper wilted in the Paris heat as Britain’s hopes of a singles medal ended with his exit to American seventh seed Taylor Fritz in the second round.
British men’s No 1 Jack Draper was knocked out in the second round of the men’s singles at the Paris Olympics
The 22-year-old began the match well, taking the opening set but, with temperatures well over 30 degrees, his challenge
faltered and he ultimately fell to a 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-2 defeat.
Draper had six break points in the third game of the second set but Fritz’s big serve came to his rescue as he clung on and then broke the Brit soon after via a badly timed double fault.
Then from late in the second set and through the decider, Draper was barely able to chase down balls, with his resistance quickly running out.
Elsewhere in the men’s singles, defending Olympic champion Alexander Zverev kept cool in soaring temperatures to march into the third round, the German securing a 6-3 7-5 victory over Czech hopeful Tomas Machac.
Tearful Gauff suffers shock third-round exit
Coco Gauff was left in tears after getting into an extended argument with the chair umpire during a 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 loss to Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic of Croatia in the third round of the women’s singles.
Gauff was already trailing by a set when the incident happened but it came at a crucial point in the second set, with the American broken and going on to lose two games later.
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Sky Sports’ Geraint Hughes explains why reigning U.S champion Coco Gauff was left in tears after she crashed out of the women’s singles at the Olympics following defeat to Donna Vekic
The 20-year-old reigning US Open champion had a serve returned by Vekic near the baseline which the line judge initially called out, only for chair umpire Jaume Campistol to overrule the decision and award Vekic the point as she broke serve for a 4-2 lead.
Gauff, who was one of the US flagbearers at the opening ceremony, was seeded second in Paris and had won her opening two matches comfortably, dropping a total of just five games.
French Open and Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini, seeded fourth in the women’s singles, also suffered a shock third-round exit, the Italian hopeful losing to Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 7-5 3-6 7-5.
Boutler and Watson progress as latter then loses in mixed doubles
Katie Boulter and Heather Watson defeated German duo Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund 6-2 6-3 in the women’s doubles.
Siegemund is ranked fifth in the world in doubles and Kerber a three-time former grand slam champion as well as a singles quarter-finalist here, but Boulter and Watson made an impressive team and dominated the contest.
“It was awesome,” said Boulter. “It was a very special moment, especially for me, because that was my first Olympics win. It just makes it even better
because I’m doing it with Hev.
However, Watson and Joe Salisbury are out of the mixed doubles after suffering a narrow first-round exit against Gabriela Dabrowski and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Watson and Salisbury battled back from a set down before the Canadian pair claimed a 7-5 4-6 10-3 win to progress to the quarter-finals.
The Canadians will now play third seeds Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz in the last eight.
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